So Deedee showed me this magical fire, a fire in which I can throw 5 items and they will then magically disappear forever from my mind, my world, the Internet, my memory, a faraway land or whichever reality, maybe ultimately the collective consciousness, the largest archive ever. A fire I had never seen before this day. This is a powerful fire and an intriguing concept. I quickly wrote down a few items; cruelty to animals (number one on my list), genocides, death by drowning, disastrous political decisions, gossip, our plastic soup or endless repetitive patterns?

I worry about cruelty to animals, and the senseless slaughtering that is going on in the world, and the bad conditions wild animals and many pets have to live in. I think I worry about it more compared to cruelty to people because animals are so utterly defenseless, and they have to undergo this cruelty for as long as it takes, which is probably till the end of times. Sometimes I think that if I were to win the lottery I would have to help organizations that try to rescue animals and pets. But this would, irreversibly so, draw me into that world of constant suffering and would most probably affect me profoundly. So it makes me uncomfortable. What would be the consequence if I threw this in the fire? We like to think that things make sense in some way and that it serves a purpose even if we can’t see it. Are we really here on earth to heal the cruelty in our hearts? I don’t know. And for animals it seems a colossal sacrifice.

But now I am thinking of throwing in some words. Words hold such power, I wonder if I would be able to throw a few in this fire. This fire I didn’t know existed.

I just watched this Tedtalk by one of my favorite authors and in this talk she suggests to take three words out of your vocabulary, for your own sanity and wellbeing. As in ‘throw them in the fire’. These words are; entitlement, blame and deserve. Not just the words but the concepts and all the consequences entirely. Rip them out of your vocabulary. That is quite an assignment, which will probably take years. I don’t know where to begin.
We live in this political culture where one politician blaming the other for his disastrous political decisions, is the standard. And I do this as well, blaming politicians, but not publicly. I do believe I deserve not to live in hunger. I believe this strongly. I don’t believe anyone has to or deserves to. I think I am entitled to my own thoughts and feelings. I cannot not be entitled. It goes against everything. Well, entitlement is attached to the ego. But of course this is not what she means.

We are to think and write about the consequences of throwing any of these things in the fire. But it’s difficult to oversee all this and I will most probably make mistakes in the ‘thinking it through’ process. Maybe I should throw in anxiety first?

I mentioned this assignment to a few ladies from the Love4Art Studio. Sandra suggested to “throw all weapons in the fire.” “I want all weapons to be gone” She said. And I asked “What is your definition of a weapon? Because a fist is also a weapon and so is a stone”. Imagine a world without stones. I have a lot of stones and boulders in my garden, you see. And I am working on a desert garden with rocks. I need my rocks in every sense. My family members are my rocks. A world without rocks, I don’t think so. A world without fists? That is a lot of people without one hand, mostly right hands. That would complicate a lot of lives. And people wouldn’t know why they were without. Imagine that, missing a hand and having no clue as to ‘WTF’.

My brother commented on this assignment “I would throw in all my worries”. Hmmm! Then he said “I will throw in all the money in the world” I don’t know what to throw in the fire and I have never in my life been so indecisive. I remember a scene of the movie ‘Out of Africa’ where the character Karen Blixen, on leaving Africa back to her country, proposes to her friend to start a fire if he ever needs her and he thinks for a while and looks into her eyes ever so intensely and says “That must be a very big fire”.

I most probably shouldn’t be throwing anything anywhere. If we throw things in the fire we deprive ourselves of our creative capacities to solve problems and build a new world, new concepts, and new views. So, we are not throwing things in this fire. After all, there is no such thing as this magical fire. I had never seen it before this day and I don’t believe it exits. Period.